


Flawless Victory

by kibasniper



Category: Psychonauts (Video Games)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Blood and Violence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Video Game Mechanics, because they're playing mk, chloe schemes her way to victory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kibasniper/pseuds/kibasniper
Summary: Losing thirteen rounds to Bobby is frustrating. Chloe takes matter into her own hands to secure the battle in her favor.
Relationships: Chloe Barge/Bobby Zilch
Kudos: 4





	Flawless Victory

**Author's Note:**

> i tagged this creator chose not to use archive warnings because some of the fighting descriptions are a bit gory. other than that, it's tagged accordingly! they're playing mortal kombat 11 btw.

“Friendship. Mileena wins.”

An upbeat tune rang out as the heiress to Shao Kahn's throne played with teddy bears dressed as her enemies and poured tea in pleasantly pink ceramic cups. She clapped and closed her eyes, fully immersed in her fantasy. As confetti drizzled around her, she raised her teacup to her teddy bear's mouth, miming the gesture of drinking. Utterly content, Mileena enjoyed her tea party with the ones she wished to befriend, only losing her composure when her teddy bear slipped out of its seat.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at the television mounted on the wall of their apartment. She set her controller in her lap, pursing her lips tightly as the friendship animation looped. Leaning into the couch cushion, Chloe stole a glance at Bobby, saying, “I appreciate the lack of bloodshed.”

He broke into a grin and pressed a button on his controller. It brought them back to the character select screen, Mileena and Skarlet facing them with the roster in-between the kombatants. “It's nice to throw in a friendship every once in a while. Makes the fatalities and brutalities more special that way,” he explained, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “You're getting better, though. You pulled off her scythe move before I could grab ya.”

“Out of the twelve rounds we've played, it isn't a substantial improvement when I've lost each previous battle,” she said, wiggling her control stick and rotating through the characters. She paused on Jax before moving the cursor over to Cetrion.

Bobby patted her forearm, saying, “C'mon, you landed some decent combos, too. Give yourself some credit.” He selected Mileena, snickering when Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Ain't like you're gonna beat a lifelong Mileena player in just one day. Besides, you kept picking different characters. You're not gonna master any combos if you don't stay with a single character to main.”

“I question your lack of versatility when it comes to the other fighters,” she remarked, choosing Frost. The technological Lin Kuei's short blue hair and cybernetic design appealed to her. “Wouldn't it be more prudent to master other characters instead of staying with only one?”

“Oh, trust me. If I picked Shao Kahn, our matches would be way shorter with how much damage he packs. You'd just get even more frustrated,” he said, brushing off her concern. His smile pushed into his cheeks when she rolled her eyes. “Once I beat you again, I'll pick him, and prove it.”

Their characters appeared in the grotesque, seedy fight club belonging to the Black Dragon. Mileena approached from the left side among the strewn bodies of Outworlders, and she wrenched her sai out from one's forehead. On the right side was Frost, head bowed until she whipped it up, blue eyes bright with electricity. They said their introductions and proceeded to face off, the announcer's deep voice filling the silence while the rowdy crowd behind the cage cheered, the mercenary Kano guzzling beer by the neon lit bar behind them.

Bobby took the initiative as soon as the battle started. Mileena's sai slashed across Frost's face and stabbed her in the gut. She rolled forward, kinetic purple energy crackling off her as she sped through Frost's legs. Bobby wasted no time having Mileena grab Frost, climbing her backside and gnashing into her neck with her monstrous fangs, viscera and blood spewing as Frost's face twisted in anguish.

“Every single time. You do that same move every single time, and I still fall for it,” Chloe grumbled, and Bobby cackled, tossing his head back.

To add insult to injury, Bobby made Mileena stab her sai into Frost's stomach and turn away. Chloe was powerless to stop the plethora of telekinetic blades from piercing Frost at all angles, who jerked in place and cried out. Mileena checking her nails and then teleporting behind Frost to kick and impale her in the head had Chloe digging her tongue into the side of her mouth.

The battle was over before Chloe could perfect a combo. She had managed to land a few punches and hit Mileena with icy projectiles, but the next time Chloe blinked, Frost was lying on the ground. Mileena backed away, taking off her mask to sneer at her opponent before setting it back in place.

“Hey, not bad. You almost grabbed me. Maybe I won't be able to break out of it next time,” Bobby said, his coyness not lost on her.

Chloe was about to retort when the announcer's voice proclaimed the start of the second round. She straightened her back, fixing the dull ache in her spine and bouncing in her seat. Catching eyes with Bobby, the smug smirk settling on his face deepened her scowl only for it to fall when Mileena rammed her heel into Frost's face, taking the first hit of the match.

As expected, the battle sailed in Bobby's favor. His expertise of the game's mechanics overpowered Chloe. Frost was beaten back into the invisible wall. Mileena raked her sharp nails across her face, bruised her eyes, and gashed through her chest, gouging through Frost's health faster than ever.

Chloe shot to her feet. She startled Bobby before he could fire off Mileena's sais. She peered at him over her shoulder, scrutinizing him with an unreadable expression. She glanced around the couch, gauging something hidden from him. He hesitated as he glanced between her and their characters, the background music pumping and chaotic. Chloe raised her controller to her chest and turned her back to him, idly rotating her control stick and making Frost oscillate in place, humming behind tightly pursed lips.

“Uh, Chloe? You okay?” he asked, cocking his head. He wondered if he had gone too far with his teasing when Frost continued wobbling. Itching his neck, Bobby supposed losing thirteen consecutive rounds must have been frustrating. He was the expert, and she was the novice. He mastered Mileena's combos and executed them with flourish, finishing each match with either a brutality or a fatality while Chloe struggled to take off a solid chunk of his health.

She looked down at him, her expression neutral. “It occurred to me that I need a handicap. I'm not well-versed in this game, so I will give myself an advantage on the outside,” she said, her lips curling into her cheeks.

Bobby arched an eyebrow. “Um, what? You can't. There's no easy mode when you're fighting another person.”

“Even if it seems unlikely, there's always a solution.”

When he tried questioning her, Chloe hopped into Bobby's lap and made herself comfortable. She crossed her ankles and brushed her shoulder blades into his chest. She felt his controller drop against her thigh, his squeak as pleasant as Mileena's shriek when Frost jabbed icicles through her neck and chest.

Bobby scrambled to grab his controller, but it bounced off Chloe's thigh onto their cat. Leatherface, who had been curled up in a ball by his feet, hardly reacted to the controller falling on to his back. Bobby telekinetically snatched it, his face reddening by the second as Chloe nestled into him, using every ticking second to unleash the wrath of the Lin Kuei on Mileena. By the time Bobby's thumbs settled in place, Mileena was down for the count while Frost mocked her.

“Oh, this is dirty, babe,” he said, lifting his chin to see over the top of her head.

As the final round began, Chloe chuckled. “'Dirty?' No, no, I'm only evening the playing field against an expert,” she insisted, backing Frost up to the wall.

Mileena advanced on her. Frost blocked her opening kicks and sai strikes, jumping and kneeling in time to the blows. But when she let her guard down, she was kicked in the chest and propelled up in the air, and Mileena tackled her into the barrier. Frost was pinned in place, helpless to Mileena's assault of claws, teeth, and tongue whippings.

“Your little handicap isn't doing you any favors,” Bobby jeered, Mileena gnawing into Frost's neck with the same show of gore.

But he should have held his tongue. Chloe shifted on his lap and lounged to the side, keeping her legs on the armrest. She set her head to his neck, hearing his pulse quicken. He froze, the muscles in his arms tensing. A string of low, confused phrases struggled to form coherent sentences. It seemed no matter how long they dated, getting him flustered was as easy as ever, and Chloe eagerly stole the lead, rapidly clicking buttons for Frost to launch her counterattack of frigid blasts and charged fists.

“No fair,” Bobby whined, his composure falling when Chloe leaned up and pecked his cheek. His finger twitched on the wrong button, causing Mileena to miss her grab and Frost to punish with a swift uppercut.

“I believe all is fair in kombat. That's what your precious Mileena would believe,” she said, Frost skewering Mileena with a whirring drill.

“Did you say that with a k?”

“Yes,” Chloe replied, and Frost fired a grenade from her chest, blasting Mileena to the floor and depleting her health.

Mileena stood, dazed. She wobbled in place, Chloe's victory assured. Chloe glanced at Bobby, and he told her the inputs, which she quickly followed before time ran out. They watched Frost launch an icy, electrical wave at Mileena, freezing her in place. She rushed over and punched Mileena, exploding all parts of her upper body except for her bloody brain and spine. Out of nowhere, a drone appeared, collecting them. It flew to Frost's factory, trapping Mileena's mind within the body of a Cyber Lin Kuei warrior, a fate worse than death.

Chloe grinned from ear to ear. She jumped to her feet and tossed her controller in the air, exclaiming, “Fatality! Chloe wins.” She beamed at Bobby, whose mouth quirked into a grin mingling with disbelief and awe. “Flawless victory.”

Leatherface, stirred by Chloe's excitement, immediately roused himself from his rest. He hopped onto the couch and kneaded the cushion, ominous music droning from the victory screen. As Chloe's controller came down in front of him, he wasted no time gnawing on it, his wrinkled, hairless face contorting in concentration.

Bobby plucked Chloe's controller from his mouth and slumped in his seat. He puffed out a chuckle, eyes wide. “I gotta hand it to you. That was undermining and cunning, and it's exactly what Frost would do.”

Chloe chuckled and pivoted on her heels. She fell into the couch, propping her hand to her cheek and elbow on the back pillow. “Then, for the sake of kombat, I appreciate her tenacity, but I would never support it in real life,” she said.

He rolled his eyes and pressed out of the victory screen. “I can hear the k when you say that.”

“Kombat. Kombatants. Kollector. Kahn's Koliseum,” she recalled, extending a finger for each word. “Hmm, Khloe.”

Gasping, Bobby sweeped his arm out. “Hero to Cygnusrealm, Khloe Barge! She uses tech and trickery on her enemies when she can't win.”

Leatherface crawled into Chloe's lap, nudging her stomach for attention. She stroked behind his ears, laughing as her boyfriend explained how she would save her realm from the clutches of Bobby Khan. As Leatherface purred, she tucked her legs to the side and leaned into Bobby, her grin wry as Bobby selected Shao Kahn.

“Well, Khloe, can you take on Bobby Kahn in a fair fight?” he sneered, Shao Kahn's monstrous visage glaring at them.

She took her controller from him and selected Frost once again, replying, “Cygnusrealm will be saved no matter what.”

Later in the match, she placed Leatherface on his shoulder and laughed when their cat immediately started pawing Bobby's face for attention, securing another unfairly won round.

**Author's Note:**

> bobby: i wish they put nitara in this game  
> franke, materializing out of nowhere: damn dude same  
> chloe: stop talking about hot vampire women  
> bobby and franke: no


End file.
